The World Employment Confederation-Europe is the voice of the employment industry at European level, representing labour market enablers in 29 countries and 7 of the largest international workforce solutions companies.

Annual Economic Report

THE EUROPEAN EMPLOYMENT INDUSTRY ENABLES 11 MILLION PEOPLE TO FIND WORK

Agency work and MSP dominate the European employment market, enjoying the highest growth in the sector

In the year of its 50th anniversary, the World Employment Confederation-Europe, the voice of the employment industry at European level, publishes its 10th annual economic report today, which contains data on an unequalled range of HR services ranging from labour market intelligence to talent acquisition and from placement to advisory services. The year-long research conducted in 30 countries addresses the challenges of a changing world of work and illustrates the role of the employment industry in enabling work, adaptation, security and prosperity. By constantly expanding its footprint and diversifying its range of services, the employment industry contributed to creating 50 million jobs worldwide, 11 million of which in Europe. Across the European markets covered in the report, current trends show a diversification of the employment industry, which regroups 68,000 agencies and 276,000 HR specialists. The employment industry's diversification strategy is clearly reflected in its growing and diversified economic performance: Agency work hits â¬ 114 billion of sales revenues in Europe (MSP excluded), an increase of 15% compared to the previous report while the European market size for MSP is estimated at â¬ 32 billion, marking a significant increase of around 23% over the previous year. The direct recruitment market continues to grow reaching â¬ 8.2 billion (up 9%), followed by Career Management (â¬ 1.1 billion) and RPO (â¬ 1.02 billion).

11 million people accessed the European labour market via an employment agency in 2015

Agency work had a net employment impact of more than 9.1 million jobs created with France and its 2 million agency workers leading the European ranking, followed by the UK (1.2 million), Germany (950,000) and Poland (800,000). In terms of penetration rate, agency work represents 1.9% of the European working population compared to a global average at 1.7%, the USA at 2.2% and Japan at 2%.

While the report clearly demonstrates that change is underway, forecasts vary in different industries: on average, before entering into agency work 33% of workers were unemployed while just 21% returned to unemployment a year later (global average). On another note, 43% of people starting agency work were previously employed and 71% remained employed a year later. Almost one third of agency workers are under the age of 25 and declare upskilling via agency work is key to staying employable.

âThese numbers show two things: first, agencies provide both an entry point to the labour market and a stepping stone to permanent hiring. Second, the industry creates decent jobs that would otherwise not exist.â, says Denis Pennel, Managing Director at the World Employment Confederation.

The employment industry reduces frictional unemployment and has an impact on public budgets

Employment agencies contribute to reduce frictional unemployment by shortening the inevitable time delays in finding a new job and ensuring better and faster matching of supply and demand for work. The report finds an inverse correlation between the amount of hours worked via an agency and the unemployment rate in the EU-28. There is also evidence that high rate of agency work penetration tend to reduce undeclared work. "Youth unemployment has a massive impact on the future employability of the younger generation: it can lead to social exclusion and a more fragmented society. And we have made it our responsibility to reduce its magnitude in Europe. Tackling the undeclared economy is another battle the industry is committed to fight. Even if in advanced economies like the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Austria, levels are below 10%, undeclared work reaches 20, sometimes 30% in Italy, Hungary or Greece where unemployment is at its highest. The 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome should mark a reboot of the European project towards a well-functioning, inclusive and sustainable employment market, not a backslide.", comments Annemarie Muntz, President of the World Employment Confederation-Europe.